I’m happy to announce that my medical office’s website, Khalsa Medical Clinic is now open and more beautiful than ever. For the many of you who were interested in coming to see me as a patient, rather than just emailing with questions, I hope that you will find my site appealing and inviting.

My Last Podcast – at Least for a While

In this podcast, I announced that this is going to be my last podcast at least for a while. Aside from my busy medical practice I have several projects in the works which I hope to share with you in the near future. You may still send your questions by email or voicemail to the numbers listed on this site. I will do my best to get answers back to you.

Integrative Medicine Update

There is lots happening in the world of integrative medicine!

For thousands of years, the yogis have passed on their tradition, that meditation helps the body to heal. I received personal training on this subject from my own teacher Yogi Bhajan.

I am delighted to share with you a new article from Harvard Medical School done  by Herbert Benson, and Towia Liberman. Dr. Liberman is the director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Center.

In this study, they found that a form of meditation called the Relaxation Response was found to alter gene expression that is involved in Inflammation, Energy Metabolism and Insulin Secretion.

Specifically, they found that pathways involved with the function of the mitochondria were upregulated during meditation.

In addition they found that pathways that are controlled by the activation of a protein called NF Kappa B. which are known to have a prominent role in inflammation, stress, trauma, and cancer were suppressed after the meditation sessions. Also they noted that the expression of genes involved in insulin pathways was significantly altered.

It is delightful to me that the ancient traditions of yoga are being proven through genetic pathways!

You can read the article here.

Vitamin D Now Found to Improve Immunity

It’s taken them a while, but the physicians in Australia has the now found that there is a vitamin D deficiency epidemic in Australia.

My colleague and friend Dr. Michael Holick went there to give a lecture and released an exciting bit of information from his recent research. He said “For the first time, this study shows direct evidence that improving vitamin D levels plays a large role in improving immunity and lowering the risk for many diseases.” In addition, he found the 290 genes were altered simply by increasing vitamin D levels. He stated that “These 290 genes are related to 80 biological pathways linked to cancer, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease.”

This is what I’ve been talking to you about for so many years. These studies are in evolution and it is very exciting! Take your vitamin D!

Breast Cancer

I want to be sure that everyone saw the cover story in the New York Times Magazine last week about breast cancer. The author Peggy Orenstein is a prominent writer who is a breast cancer survivor. She presents some unique perspectives about the current issues and breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. I urge you to read the article. Here is the link for it.

Allergies are On The Rise

It is now estimated that unchecked global warming will worsen respiratory allergies for approximately 25,000,000 Americans. It will contribute to worse spring allergies, worse fall allergies, more asthma attacks and more health costs.

I announce on the podcast  that there is a new free email service available at this website that will email you every morning with the pollen count for your ZIP Code that day. If you have allergies I urge you to subscribe to this free service.

Here is the link for the full report on global warming and its effect on allergies.

Most Turkey Has Bacteria

It’s now been discovered that Turkey products are contaminated with salmonella and other bacteria. It is estimated that nearly 90% of US Turkey products are contaminated with these bacteria.

You can read more about it at this link.

Macular Degeneration and Integrative Medicine.

A new study that just came out in JAMA – ophthalmology shows that supplementation with a combination of lutein zeaxanthin, DHA and EPA can result in a significant improvement in the optical density of the macular pigment. This is where macular degeneration occurs.

The study was double-blind placebo-controlled was carried out over 12 months. Integrative doctors have been prescribing these types of supplements for our health for many years. It’s a shame it has taken conventional medicine so long to find it out.

My interview this week

My interview this week is with my special friend Guru Prem Singh Khalsa. Guru Prem is a true master Yogi and has been  practicing and teaching yoga for over 35 years.

He has  a very active practice in the same clinic where I work. He works as a structural, breath, yogic and massage therapist and he’s been doing this for over 28 years. He deeply understands the body, and can read its patterns of tension and breathing and help guide one to ease.

In this interview which is very different than the previous interviews I’ve done we talk about Radiant Beauty. We discuss what is radiance and how it is lost. We also talk about what it means to be heavy hearted and long faced, and how the posture can reflect the physical conditions in the body.

This is a very unique and very uplifting interview. Because of that, I have decided not to cut it into two segments and to play the entire 35 minute segment straight through.

I know you’re in for a treat when you listen to this!

You can reach Guru Prem at his website here

and find his music for sale here.

After the interview, I answer questions on the following subjects

1. A lady who was helped by vitamin D and magnesium. Her leg cramps went away with the proper balance of magnesium.

2. A gentleman with a persistent sore throat.

3. I close this podcast with a lovely email from Lisa who thanks me for introducing her to the importance of vitamin D and to the importance of Integrative Medicine. She has found a doctor through one of the lists that I give in my FAQ and she is very happy about that. She asked how to find a similar integrative dentist. I recommend the organization called the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.

You can find the link here.

Next Steps for Me

As mentioned at the beginning, this is my last podcast – at least for a while. I will be staying in touch with you directly by email, and on Twitter and on Facebook and encourage you to follow me there. If you have not signed up for my newsletter on this website you may do so to the right and I will send you my weekly newsletter. I may be starting a second newsletter each week to bring people up to date on how I use the nutritional supplements in my online Healthy Living Shop to help my patients.

I look forward to staying in touch with you.

I wish all of you the very best that Enlightened Medicine, Conscious Living, and Compassionate Healing can bring you.

Dr. Soram

I start out this podcast reminding all my listeners that my new online Healthy Living Shop is open. For the time being, all new customers will receive a 10% discount if they use the code VPP10FT.

I am so happy that I am able to provide to all my readers and listeners the same physician – quality supplements that I have used for so many years in my practice. These supplements are much higher quality than is what available in health food stores and drugstores.

To make things easy I have started out making available several “ESSENTIALS Kits”. There is an Essentials Kit for men, women and for children. In addition I have several kits for specific health problems and also seasonal problems.

Please check out my new shop at:

Dr Soram’s Complementrix Healthy Living Shop

Breast Cancer

In this show, I start out talking about the new article in the New York Times Magazine entitled Our Feel – Good War on Breast Cancer, written by Peggy Orenstein. This article is a very comprehensive look at our current state of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She discusses the very hot topic on just how many mammograms does a woman need? And just how young of age should girls be encouraged to do self-examination of their breasts?

This article is an excellent review of the pros and cons of our current system for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Of course as I point out on the podcast I believe much more money should be focused on PREVENTION of breast cancer, not just treatment. After all, after a woman has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has surgery and if necessary chemotherapy and radiation, she is back in prevention mode. We must look at some of the underlying contributors to this breast cancer epidemic.

Many of you know I’ve spoken of some of these in previous podcasts. This includes keeping women’s vitamin D level up and having women avoid exposure to phthalates, in their cosmetics.

Integrative Medicine Update

1. In the first article, I talk about  how experiments are showing that the nutrients in berries are protective to the brain. Specifically most of my patients are worried about Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. These diseases have shown an increased amount of toxic protein. Berries are able to promote the brain’s natural housekeeping mechanism thereby reducing the toxic accumulation.

2. One soda a day can increase diabetes risk by 22%. This study was done in Europe and it confirms what has been found in America. The authors found that just consuming one 12 ounce serving of sugar sweetened soft drink each day raise the likelihood of developing type II diabetes by 22%.

3. A new study has shown that alternative therapies may help lower blood pressure. This is exciting news because it was published in the journal Hypertension, which is published by the American Heart Association. They looked at three types of exercise – aerobic, resistance or weight training, and isometric exercises most commonly handgrip devices.

They found that all three types of exercise reduce blood pressure. Four weeks of isometric handgrip exercises resulted in the most impressive improvements – a 10% drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

They did not look at herbs or supplements. In my own practice, I find herbs and supplements can be very helpful in dropping people’s blood pressure to normal.

4. Another study has confirmed what environmental doctors have been quite concerned about and that is the effects of pesticide exposure on reproduction and how this exposure can span generations. This study supported the theory that exposure to some environmental chemicals during sensitive periods of development can cause significant health problems for those organisms later in life – and affect their offspring and possibly their offspring’s offspring.

This is just another reason for women to go on a cleansing program before they conceive and to stay clean while they are carrying their new fetus.

5. Does cracking knuckles or joints cause arthritis? This is a long been asked question and this study shows that it does NOT cause an increase in osteoarthritis. However, other researchers shown that people who cracked their knuckles, were more likely to have hand swelling and lower grip strength.

Interview with Lyn Patrick, N.D. Part 3

In the concluding part of my interview with Lyn Patrick ND, we talk about safe blood Mercury levels for pregnancy. I express my recommendation that there is zero tolerance for any Mercury during pregnancy as it is damaging to the fetus’s nervous system. The EPA has recommended blood levels below 5.8 mcg/L for Mercury.

Dr. Patrick also points out to check your chlorella, if you are eating it, to make sure that it is heavy metal free.

We talk about the benefits of low-temperature medical saunas. Specifically I can recommend Saunaray.

If you mention my name they will give you some extra “goodies” with your purchase. I personally think they make the best and least toxic sauna that is available today. It comes with excellent support. In addition it comes from Canada and therefore is not subject to any sales tax.

By way of full disclosure I do have an affiliate agreement with them.

Dr. Patrick specifically says that we can find doctors who are experienced with detoxification by contacting The American College for the Advancement of Medicine or The American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

Lyn Patrick’s website is here

Your Questions Answered

In this podcast I answer questions on the following:

1. Chronically dry skin.

2. A young woman with Sjogren’s syndrome and how she should prepare for pregnancy.

3. A woman with toenail fungus for many years.

I hope you’re enjoying my podcast. If you are, please do rate me on iTunes! In addition remember to follow me on Twitter and to Like me on Facebook.

With best wishes to your health,

Dr. Soram

This is pictured Here :

Since I first started my podcast and blog, followed by the tremendous response I got from my appearance on the Dr. Oz show, I have wanted to open an online store for my listeners and readers. This new online shop is an important part of my mission, because for the first time I am able to offer you the same physician – quality supplements that I’ve helped so many of my patients with in my practice here in Los Angeles.

In more exciting news is that I’m celebrating the launch of my new Healthy Living Shop by offering a special 10% discount on all your first-time purchases in the first month of opening.

You may have read and you’ve heard me talk about, that more and more studies are revealing that the ordinary products that you buy at a health food store discount store are lacking in quality, and even lacking in the ingredients they claim to have.

That is why my new Healthy Living Store is so exciting! You will be able to order the same physician quality products that I’ve used for so long in my own Integrative Medicine practice.

When you hear me talking about things on my podcast you will usually be able to find those products from my Healthy Living Shop.

Please do sign up for my weekly email newsletter on this site. On a regular basis, I will be spotlighting a supplement I recommend daily at my clinic, and I’m hopeful this information will help you, too. I will explain the health conditions I prescribe them for and how my patients take them.

I’m happy to say that my new online store will have a very responsive customer service department to meet any inquiries or issues that you may have.

When you enter my store you can look at the product categories in the left column and click on the category that best describes your health needs today. Or you can choose one of the supplement kits that I’ve put together on the main page.

INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE UPDATE

In this issue I talk about how the month of birth impacts immune system development of a fetus. This study was done in England and is related to Multiple Sclerosis.

Basically what they found is that a mother’s vitamin D level during pregnancy is connected to the likelihood that she will have a child who develops multiple sclerosis. This only reinforces what I’ve been saying for a long time now, that pregnant women must have sufficient vitamin D throughout their pregnancy. In my practice I measure a pregnant woman’s vitamin D level every trimester to make sure it stays in the normal range.

SUGARY DRINKS

In a new study more than 180,000 deaths worldwide in 2010 were linked to a high intake of sugar laden drinks. This includes 25,000 deaths in the United States. This paper was presented at the most recent meeting of the American Heart Association.

Although the American Beverage Association objected to the findings, the author Dr. Singh said that on a “population level” it is possible to estimate the number of deaths attributable to sugary drink composition.

Suzanne Steinbaum, MD, the director of women and heart disease at Lennox Hospital in New York City stated “This sheds light on the linear connection between sugary drink consumption and deaths.” Dr. Steinbaum was not associated with the study.

You can read more about it here.

AIR POLLUTION IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

Exposure in the first two months of pregnancy to air pollution from traffic sharply increases the risk for birth defects is how this article started out.

They found that a mother living in areas with the highest level of carbon monoxide or nitrogen oxide concentrations was almost twice as likely to give birth to a child with neural tube defects is one living in areas with the lowest concentrations.

This article fits in with the subject of my interview today about preconception pregnancy planning.

You can read about it here

and here.

AUTISM

The percentage of US kids with autism continues to rise. The latest estimate is that autism affects one in 50 kids! This includes children from age 6 to 17 and it includes the entire Autism Spectrum Disorder.

When is this going to slow down? Those of you have been listening to my podcast for a long time know that integrative doctors feel the toxins in the mother’s body is a big contributor to this epidemic.

You can read about it HERE

ADHD

The rates of US children affected by attention – deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are skyrocketing according to this new report. The new information shows that 11% of children ages 4 to 17 were diagnosed with ADHD. This is from data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The rise was especially dramatic among boys with an estimated one in five boys in high school now diagnosed with ADHD. About two thirds of the children diagnosed with this condition were treated with stimulant medications that can improve attention but also come with side effects.

The link I mentioned to avoid phthalates can be found here.

Before we start with the interview, I am planning on doing webinars on subjects of interest to my listeners/readers. Please take this 3 question survey to let me know of your interests. Click here to take survey.

My Interview with Lyn Patrick, ND.

It is most appropriate with this new news about autism and ADHD that we then move on to part two of my interview with Dr. Lyn Patrick, ND, who does a lot of work with preconception pregnancy planning.

In this podcast we talk about Biomagnification. We also discuss Mercury as an endocrine disrupting chemical.

We also talk about how at the very top of the food chain is the human infant. She reminds us that the majority of the problems with these chemicals is that they primarily affect the boys. That is why we’re seeing higher incidences of autism and ADHD in boys, in my opinion.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

I then go on to answer listener questions:

1. I discuss the integrative medicine approach to Rheumatoid Arthritis.

2. I remind all my listeners that lists of physicians who are trained similar to me can be found at this link on my site.

3. I also address a lady, for whom I have a lot of compassion, who wrote me about the integrative approach to her leukemia with a very high white blood cell count. Unfortunately on my podcast I cannot address conditions about cancer or leukemia because it is just too complicated and too individual. I ask my audience to please remember this.

4. I then receive a question about dosage of vitamin D and I give a comprehensive answer on that.

I’m delighted that I’m able to take phone messages now and we played several of them on my podcast today

Please remember to visit my new store this Thursday, April 18 around noon time at this link.

Also I appreciate the people have called to make an appointment to see me in person and I refer you to my clinic website at . My site there is under construction, but our office phone number to contact us is there.

Remember to get your news on integrative medicine at my new website.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health.

And also please remember to follow me on Twitter where I have feeds at least twice a day and Like me on Facebook!

I look forward to speaking with you again on the next podcast.

Well! The whole world is moving more and more in the direction of integrative medicine every day. Indeed, it is estimated that over 80% of all chronic diseases are caused by diet and lifestyle.

My New Website!

I’m happy to announce that I have a new website I’ve created called Integrative Medicine Update. It is a Digg style website, in which you and all your friends can add your own articles relevant to integrative medicine. If you want to see what’s the latest, just take a look at my new website!

Please let all your friends know as well. I want to build this up so that it is a go-to resource for people that want to know the latest in integrative medicine.

 Gluten Sensitivity and Leaky Gut

Many of you know, that we have a new blood test in the office for very accurate, scientific detection of patients who have “Non-celiac gluten sensitivity”. In addition we have an equally scientific test now. through blood to diagnose intestinal permeability problems which are called “leaky gut”. These tests in the forefront of this work are run by Cyrex Labs. You can read about them here.

 In this article that appeared in the news this week both of these diagnoses are approached rather skeptically. I do not all agree with that skepticism. Leaky gut and gluten sensitivity are indeed real and I’m changing my patients’ health every day by ordering tests to find out if they have these conditions and then fixing them!

 Take a look at this ARTICLE in the National News. 

 My Mistake in Sending to you without comment !

Several of my patients “called me” for allowing the article last week that encourage people to eat fish! I was aware of that article having fish as a “healthy food” and I should have put a note to all of you that I don’t agree. Most of you know that I think Mercury from fish, is a huge problem. I think it is only a matter of a few more years until the dangers of the mercury in fish,  will be on the national news in a bigger way.

 Please watch this newly published video from my friend, Michael Gregor, MD, documenting the dangers of Mercury, in this case especially for children. I agree with him that NO Mercury level is truly safe

More Alzheimer’s Disease

All of us baby boomers and even young patients in my practice are worried about Alzheimer’s disease, and I’m very happy that there is a good article written by my writers in this week’s issue.

It is now estimated that one in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s or dementia. You can read about it here.

In this article, it is estimated that costs associated with dementia amounted to over $200 billion in the United States in 2010 and is expected to increase nearly 80% per adult by 2014. This study was done by the RAND Corporation.

 You can read about it here.

It’s one thing to review all these depressing statistics. However I am one to inspire people to try to stay healthy and do preventive medicine. In that regard I highly recommend the book Power Foods for that Brain, by my colleague Neal Barnard, MD.

 You can buy the book here. You can get it on Kindle HERE. And you can get the DVD HERE.

The Articles in This Issue

I’m delighted with all the issues in this week’s issue from my writers:

1. The article on avoiding Alzheimer’s is extremely informative.

2. The water shortage crisis in America and the world is vastly under-looked. I am really glad my writers have written about this. Without sounding like a broken record, this is another push in the direction of all of us becoming vegetarians or vegan. As is pointed out in the article, growing 1 kg of potatoes requires only 100 Liters of water. 1 kg of beef requires 13,000 Liters of water. We can all do the math!

3. I left the third article on the seven nutrients Americans are most efficient in, in this newsletter. All of you who are my regular patients are fully covered on all these nutrients! However some of you may want to send this article to your friends.

4. We all need some smiles in our day!  The fourth article in this newsletter is about the best types of dogs for each type of function. One day they will need to write an article about the best types of dogs for each type of personality!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! Remember to follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook. Remember to check out my new news website Integrative Medicine Update.

 To your good health,

 Dr. Soram

MY NEW WEBSITE AND STORE

I’m also delighted to announce that on April 18 I will be opening a new online nutritional supplements store. Many of you after my Dr. Oz appearance asked me if I had other products that I endorse. In this new store I will be able to make available to you most all the products I use in my private practice of medicine. These are products that are not available at health food stores, because they are of a higher quality and designed for physicians to use with their patients. More about this in my next issue!

VITAMIN D AND DIABETES

I then go on to give you an update in the latest this week in Integrative Medicine. First off we talk about the new study that has shown that vitamin D is able to decrease the risk for diabetes and obese children and adolescents. In fact a quote by the author said, “By increasing vitamin D intake alone, we got a response that was nearly as powerful as what we had seen using a prescription drug”. Click here to read this article.

Although this article was written about children and teenagers I’m sure that it would also be true for adults. If you have family or friends with diabetes be sure to tell them to get their vitamin D levels checked and to optimize their vitamin D.

OUR GUT BACTERIA

We then talk about the importance of gut bacteria and its relationship to obesity. A new study done at Cedars Sinai Hospital here in Los Angeles is the first to show an association between gas production and body weight. The author stated “This could prove to be another important factor in understanding one of the many causes of obesity.” Click here to read this study.

Back to back with this article about gut bacteria, another study has come out saying that part of the benefit of gastric bypass surgery could be a change in gut microbes. The author of this study, Lee Kaplan stated “Our study suggests that the specific effects of gastric bypass on the microbiota contribute to its ability to cause weight loss and that finding ways to manipulate microbial populations to mimic those effects can become a valuable new tool to address obesity.”

Over and over again, we are getting the importance of our digestion for our whole body’s health.

FRENCH BOTTLED WATER

I then review a study showing that one in five French bottled waters contain drugs or pesticides. Specifically it contained chemotherapy drugs as well as pesticides. The authors of the study say that the amounts are “miniscule” and not to be worried about. However consumer groups along with integrative doctors know that very small amounts of chemicals can work very powerfully on the body. This is especially true if there is more than one chemical.

They have not done this study on American waters yet but it does make you wonder. Click here to read about this study.

HEAVY METALS AND AUTISM

The next study I review is the one that shows several toxic metals are found in children with autism. This dovetails very well with the subject of our interview today. It was found that between 30% and 47% of the variation of autism severity was associated with the level of several toxic metals, with cadmium in Mercury being the most strongly associated. Click here to read.

ORGANIC FOOD AND HEALTH

I then talk about an article showing that organically grown food provides health benefits for fruit flies! Specifically, flies there were raised on diets with organically grown produce, had greater fertility and longevity.

I know it is only a matter of time until organic foods are shown to benefit humans in the same way!

MINDFULNESS TRAINING

And then we turn the conversation to the importance of mindfulness training. One new article shows that mindfulness training reduces mind wandering. They measured college students ability to perform on exams. The students who receive mindfulness training showed improved accuracy on the GRE and higher working memory capacity, compared to those who simply received instruction in nutrition. The researchers estimated that mindfulness training resulted in the equivalent of a 16 percentile – point boost on the GRE.

If your child is going to be taking examinations, you may want to have them learn mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques.

Yet another Mindfulness studies showed that it is associated with lower stress hormone levels. Specifically high levels of cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland, are associated with physical or emotional stress.

In this study, a Buddhist scholar trained participants in mindfulness of breathing, observing mental events, and observing the nature of consciousness. What the researchers found was that “The more a person reported directing their cognitive resources to immediate sensory experience in the task at hand, the lower the resting cortisol.”

Interview with Lyn Patrick ND

I then go on to my interview with Dr. Lyn Patrick with a world-renowned natural path Dr. from Colorado. Our topics this week is Preconception Pregnancy Preparation. We talk about BPA and other chemicals that are harming our children. We talk about how the mother should prepare for pregnancy before she conceives.

I know you will enjoy this podcast.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

I then answer your questions about:

1. Diverticulitis

2. Leg cramps and their treatment.

3. I talk about the feedback I got from listeners on the importance of silence that they have come to realize.

4. I also addresses listeners’ questions about the safety of vitamin D.

Thank you for listening to my podcast. You may send me questions by email at questions@askDoctorSoram.com. You may also call the voicemail hotline, which is back up and working, at 310-499-0275.

I will get to your questions as fast as I can.

Reminder! If you’re enjoying my podcasting getting a lot out of it please rate me five stars on iTunes so more people can get the benefit that integrative medicine can bring to them.

Also please leave your comments below.

You may also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Here’s a link to the trailer for the movie

In the movie they show the need to reorient ourselves towards preventive medicine and positive well-being, rather than being reactive and waiting for a disease to strike.
Andrew Weil states “We don’t have a healthcare system…we have a disease care system” and I could not agree more!

A direct quote from a corporate executive interviewed in the movie is “70% of health care costs are driven by people behaviors.” Our system will be bankrupt if we do not fix it and reorient to healthy lifestyles.

You can find out more about the movie here and here.

Keeping with the theme that everybody is focusing on staying or getting healthy, a new app for both the iPhone and android has come out. It is called Fooducate. With the App on your phone at the grocery store or health store you can scan a barcode and the App will give you information on how healthy that product is. If it is not healthy, it will make recommendations of similar products that are much healthier for you and your family.

Here is a link to the website where you can get the app.

Along the lines of my logo -Enlightened Medicine, and Conscious Living a new article has come out entitled “Ruminating about stressful events may increase inflammation in the body”:

This is really where the tire meets the road for many diseases. It is so good that it is finally being documented scientifically.

We all know that heart attacks are related to stress and studies are also showing now that cancers related to stress. How does the mind affect the body in these cases? This landmark study shows that just the act of worrying about something and ruminnating on it, can raise inflammation in the human body. Specifically a marker called HS – CRP gets elevated when a person dwells on negative and/or stressful events.

Previous studies have correlated stress with these health problems but this is the first study to prove that inflammation markers in the blood go up when a person ruminates on something negative. Integrative medicine doctors think that inflammation as represented by the HS – CRP is the primary cause of coronary artery disease, the major cause of death in the United States. Many integrative doctors feel that cholesterol is an innocent bystander.

Here’s a link to the article.

In other news about integrative medicine, a new study has just shown that acupuncture improves memory, test performance and reduces anxiety.

This too is a major study showing what many of us have observed for a long time. Dr. Jason Bucell, PhD did the research with 90 undergraduate students. Half the students received acupuncture and half did not, and the placebo effect was controlled for. Then the students took a computerized test of working memory. These tests are associated with predicting performance with such diverse abilities as reading comprehension, arithmetic calculation, notetaking, language comprehension, learning to spell, building vocabulary, writing and many other performance measurements.

Previous research has shown that a series of acupuncture treatments can help individuals with impaired memory. This research was unique in that it is the first study to show the just ONE acupuncture treatment can improve performance in healthy individuals.

It will be exciting to see if this has any benefit for patients with Alzheimer’s or other less severe memory problems that people over age 50 often complain of.

You can read the article here.

Another study, just recently been published, shows that mindfulness contributes to more stable emotions and people who perceive themselves to have better control over their mood and behavior throughout the day. Higher mindful people also described less cognitive and physiological activation before bedtime. This suggests a greater emotional stability during the day might even translate into better sleep.

These results will be presented later this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.
This is further encouragement for all my listeners and readers and patients to meditate. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a wonderful and straightforward, very American way to begin to meditate.

You can read the article HERE.

In this Podcast, I also talk about a new study that’s shows that walking is just as effective in alleviating low back pain as muscle strengthening programs that require specialized equipment and rehabilitation clinics. In this study Dr. Michal Katz-Leurer at Tel Aviv University noted that this treatment option of walking fits easily into a daily routine and allows those with back pain to be more responsible for their own health.

In the program it only required 20 to 40 minutes of walking 2 to 3 times per week. As you know I would recommend upping that to seven days a week for other health issues including heart and weight.

You can read the article HERE.

Finally today. we discuss brain injury and concussions. New research using lasers to monitor the brain have shown that even mild traumatic brain injuries can kill brain tissue.

Dr. Serge Kirov, the author of the study is quoted as saying “Even with a mild trauma, we found we still have these ischemic blood vessels and, if blood flow is not returned to normal, synapses start to die.”
In this study scientists watched as astrocytes which are smaller cells that supply neurons with nutrients and help maintain normal electrical connectivity and blood flow – in the vicinity of the injury- swell quickly and significantly. This swelling smothered the neurons in connective branches that these cells once supported.

Dr. Kirov went on to say “We saw every branch, every small wire and how it gets cut. We saw how it destroys networks. It really goes downhill. It’s the first time we know of that someone has watched this type of minor injury play out over the course of 24 hours.”

The implications of this are profound for the 1.7 million Americans annually experiencing traumatic brain injuries from falls, car accidents, sports, combat and other similar events.

I bring up the question of what happens to our children’s and grandchildren’s brain when they play soccer and they “head” the ball?

You can read that article HERE.

Another article which is a complement to the previous one has shown experts have discovered a blood test called the S100B, that can help diagnose concussions. It is a great deal less expensive – around $40 – than other means of evaluating the extent of head trauma.

Dr. Janigro, the author of this study, is quoted as saying “Think of the blood – brain barrier disruption as opening the door to the brain that shouldn’t be open. Proteins like S100B that normally stay inside the brain get out where they aren’t supposed to be and get attacked. In addition, the doors open for things that don’t belong in the brain to get in.” Basically, this is saying that the blood brain barrier becomes disrupted.

It is estimated that about 40% of football players experience concussions every year. This test will be very helpful in evaluating the degree of their injury.
The Article is HERE

THE INTERVIEW

This is part two, the final part, of my interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan on Predictive Antibodies. In this podcast Dr. O’Brien talks about his own discovery of anybodies in his body against his brain which could have led to neurological disorders as he got older. Through using the techniques of integrative medicine he was able to reverse and remove these antibodies.

This is very exciting information and I encourage all of you who have not heard this to listen to this podcast.
To learn more about Predictive Anybody’s you can read this article HERE.

The laboratory where these tests can be done is Cyrex labs and can be found HERE. You can bring this to the attention of your own physician and they can order the necessary test kits to draw your blood to do the test at their office.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

In this podcast I answer questions on the following subjects:
1. Approach to Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis.
2. Approach to a young girl with significant foul-smelling gas with bloating.
3. An integrative approach to depression and anxiety and symptoms of menopause.
4. An integrative medicine approach to the treatment of persistent hives.

If your friends or family have any of these issues, you can let them know about my podcast.

If you are interested in more information about integrative medicine you can sign up for my newsletter here on my website.

Please remember to follow me on Twitter and Facebook and don’t forget to send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening!

Also if you are enjoying my podcast and feel it has helped you, please remember to rate me with five stars on iTunes so that more people can find out about this podcast.

Wishing you the very best in Enlightened medicine, Conscious living and Compassionate Healing.

Dr. Soram

On the subject of “myth busting”, the once highly attractive notion that boosting HDL-CHOLESTEROL levels would reduce cardiovascular event rates is now dead. At the annual cardiovascular conference this year sponsored by the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Robert A. Vogel stated “An iconic concept of HDL has not born good fruit. It really isn’t what we know that hurts us so much as the things we think are true but just ain’t so – and that’s the story of HDL” Read it HERE

Further studies have shown that using Niacin to raise HDL brings no value to the patient. Dr. Vogel is quoted again as saying “I’m going to say it twice. If you have a patient on niacin, take that patient off. Again, if you have a patient on niacin, take that patient off. There is no evidence base at the present time that a patient should be on niacin to reduce cardiovascular risk. HERE is that quote.

Just a few weeks ago the New York Times had a major article on gluten free diet and its possible benefits. As many of my readers know, we now have a simple blood test to evaluate whether a person is gluten sensitive. We recognize that there are large number of people who do not have celiac disease, but who have gluten sensitivity. You can Read it HERE. Remember my last few podcasts have interviewed Dr Tom O’Bryan who is quoted in the article. 

A new report from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Program reported that “The evidence linking hormone – mimicking chemicals to human health problems has grown stronger over the past decade becoming a “global threat” that should be addressed. As I’ve mentioned before we pay particular attention to this when a woman is preparing for pregnancy so she does not deliver what are now called “gender bending” chemicals into her fetus. Here is a link to an article entitled “Poisoned by everyday life” that recently appeared.

Here is another link about the new information linking the environment to breast cancer. I wrote about this last week as well.   Breast cancer kills 40,000 women in the United States each year.

Finally, a new California rule will be getting the flame retardants out of our couches. Sarah Janssen of the Natural Resources Defense Council stated “Women with higher levels of flame retardants in their blood take longer to get pregnant and have smaller babies. Children exposed in the womb have a lower IQ and attention problems. Other studies have linked flame retardants to male infertility, male birth defects and early puberty in girls. A recent study in animals has linked toxic flame retardants to autism.” To read more click HERE and HERE. 

 Hopefully these laws will pass!

And we wonder why these problems are on the rise?

Almost all my readers know that I’m very concerned about mercury accumulation in our bodies from eating fish. Now a new article out this week looks at mercury exposure in young adulthood and incidence of diabetes later in life. They looked at almost 4000 American young adults in this study. Those in the highest quintile of mercury compared to the lowest quintile of mercury levels were 165% more likely to get diabetes.

Not to overwhelm you with all this information but now another study has shown that hair dyes used by millions of women are linked to chemicals that can cause cancer. They noted that both home hair coloring kits and the dyes use that expensive salons pose a potential risk to health. You can read this article at this link.

I never thought we’d see it in our lifetimes, but the entire world is moving towards concepts and principles that Integrative Medicine has followed for the last 35 years.

Wishing you all the best in health! Watch your chemical exposure!

Dr. Soram

The subtitle of the article is “One SN a minute then tablet cause 1.5 cents. Your hospital marks it up 10,000%.

For me this is just a further message that all of us need to be proactive about our health. It is not good enough to just sit around and wait for a disease to strike. Conscious living in the use of enlightened medicine can help us stay healthy.

And a video with the author is here

Before I start talking about my update for Integrative medicine, I want to share with all my listeners my wife and my  recent discovery of guaranteed lead and cadmium free dishware! I talk about this on the podcast. It is called “Fiesta Dishes” and here is the link.

Speaking of being sure to find dishes without lead I open this podcast within article that just appeared showing that decreasingly small amounts of lead can affect children’s IQ performance. This study was done in the Detroit Public Schools System. Levels as low as 2 mcg/dL in the blood affected children’s educational performance.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130225/NEWS06/302250140/High-lead-poisoning-linked-to-lower-test-scores-in-DPS?odyssey=nav|head

One of the biggest pieces of news this week is that the incidence of metastatic breast cancer is increased in women at the young age of 25 to 39. I’ve begun to see this in my own practice, and now this article from the JAMA confirms it.

and also the New York Times covered this with this article.

I’ve talked to my podcast before and all of you have heard of the increasing amount of phthalates that women are being exposed to and the increasing problem with vitamin D deficiency. Both of these predisposed to – note I’m not saying cause – breast cancer.

We then go on to talk about BPA exposure and childhood asthma. The study tested 568 children and their mothers in New York City. It is the first to link early childhood exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) where the asthma. However studies with lab mice have found a similar link.

One out of every 10 children in our country has been diagnosed with asthma. In my opinion between the study that shows BPA exposure in the known low levels of vitamin D in newborns, we are building a perfect storm towards the development of more asthma in our children.

In this article the author , Kathleen Donohue, is quoted as saying “We saw increase risk of asthma at fairly routine, low doses of BPA”.

Links for these two articles are here:

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/asthma-and-bpa

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257110.php

And here is one from Time Magazine

The New England Journal of Medicine had a lead article this week showing the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in protecting against heart disease. Although this diet is significantly better than the traditional American diet, I still think studies will show that a Vegan diet is even better at protecting against heart disease.

The next article I discuss shows that C-section babies are five times more likely to develop allergies. This finding goes along with previous research that showed the babies born by C-section are more likely to have asthma then babies who were delivered naturally.

The most likely mechanism of this is that the baby is not being exposed to friendly bacteria in the birth canal and this is a major effect on the child’s immune system for the rest of their life.

In my own practice, as you know, I’m very preventive war early diagnostic oriented with my patients. In former heavy smokers I routinely order screening CT scans of the lungs. In the last years I found about six patients with early-stage lung cancer. Please note that a CT scan of the lung finds bone cancer about four years before chest x-ray will.

Now there is a study proving the importance of this technology. It is estimated that this type of screening could avert 12,000 lung cancer deaths annually.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/779823

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/257020.php

Another study that I talk about has shown that the category of drugs called SNRIs only produces a small benefit for fibromyalgia pain. One of the authors Dr Wallit stress that fibromyalgia encompasses more than just pain. And he stated “And considering that these drugs don’t really do much for any other aspect of a patient’s life, the value of these medications seem small at best”.

I mentioned my new discovery of the medical journal Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. The article I mentioned in the podcast about personal care products and phthalates can be found here.

I mention the importance of climate change and specifically this link of an excellent video explaining it.

Dr. Gould is a psychiatrist with an excellent program to lose weight. I mention his new article entitled What the weight loss industry is really selling. He basically says they are selling HOPE. But he points out that the INTERNAL You has not changed (loneliness, boredom, trauma etc.) nor has it even been taken into consideration by the weight loss industry.

You can read it here and you can sign up for his very effective online program.

And finally I talk about the importance of Aerobic exercise in children. A new study has shown that aerobically fit children had 2.4 greater chance of passing math tests and 2.2 times greater chance of passing reading test compared with aerobically – unfit children.

INTERVIEW

My interview this week is a second interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan. This time our subject is Predictive Antibodies.
Dr Tom was quoted in the New York Times here about Non-celiac Gluten Sensitivity. You can read it here.

His reply to the New York Times article was not printed in the newspaper but you can read on his website here.

I know you will learn a lot in this interview. We now have the technology using high-level laboratory tests to see early that a person may be getting a certain disease. Then using the techniques of integrative medicine we can intervene to reverse this tendency. Dr. O’Bryan and I have a lively conversation about this.

In the article we mention Cyrex labs which you can find here.

The article entitled New Predictors of Disease by Dr. Notkins can be found here for your download.

A scientific article for your doctor friends written by my colleague and friend Dr. Vojdani can be downloaded here.

Dr O’Bryan’s website is here

I look forward to your feedback about this interview. You can either put a comment down below or drop me an email at questions@askdrsoram.com

QUESTIONS
Today I answer questions for many of my readers and listeners:
1. I answer question about magnesium and vitamin D.
2. I answer another question about how to find a practitioner like myself and referred the listeners to my frequently asked questions page
3. I also answer questions about my brand of vitamin D and why they decided to put my name on a particular product.
4. I also answer a question from a grandmother about her grandson with eczema. This is a very thorough answer regarding allergies and asthma. If your questions are about this subject I encourage you to listen to this part of the podcast.
5. I answer question about an elevated SED rate in a patient with Crohn’s disease.

This completes the podcast for today. I would ask all of you for your benefit for my podcast to go to iTunes and rank me with five stars. That way a larger number of people will learn about the podcast and we can all share this information to improve our well-being together.

Please feel free to leave your comments below or to write me questions at my email address.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also you can follow me on  Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

I will see you in a couple weeks for part two of this interview on Predictive Antibodies.

In the show I give some suggestions for managing allergies using a natural approach.

Here are the links mentioned in the podcast to the allergy epidemic we are having now.

Seasonal Allergies Getting Worse From Climate Change

Pollen Allergy Forecast

The allergy video I mention is here

The PDF article on extreme allergy and global warming is here

Yoga is coming to its own and finally being proved to be helpful for human disease! As my readers know I’ve been practicing kundalini yoga for over 40 years and I’m so gratified to see articles about yoga appearing in the most conventional of all medical journals, such as American Journal of Cardiology.

Here it is showing that yoga can significantly reduce the frequency of atrial fibrillation a very common heart condition. If your relatives or friends live with this condition, please refer them to this article.

I’ve discussed with you, my readers and listeners, for a long time the relationship between vitamin D and breast cancer. Dr. Garland is my friend and colleague who wrote the original epidemiologic article that I have quoted in my book and on my recent appearance on Dr. Oz.

Now Dr. Garland has published a PROSPECTIVE study showing that there is a link between low vitamin D and breast cancer.

Here’s the article.

Finally, I talk about the landmark event of an agency of the National Institute Of Health confirming what I’ve talked about on my podcast for so long – the link between the environment and breast cancer. In addition they are changing the focus of breast cancer to be more towards prevention rather than only diagnosis and treatment. This is a glorious day for the women of the world!

Jeanne Rizzo has written our article for the Huffington Post entitled Welcome to the Breast Cancer Prevention Era.

You can read it here

and you can read the official document from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at this link. The title of the article is Breast Cancer and Environment – Prioritizing Prevention

The Interview on Gluten

We then finalize my three-part interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan on gluten sensitivity.

In this section we talk about the accuracy of Celiac tests, and its 6 to 1 ratio of gluten sensitivity to celiac disease diagnosis. Dr. O’Bryan calls this gluten sensitivity epidemic  “Foundational Problem”. You can find a list of practitioners who have been qualified from Dr. O’Bryan’s training on his website here.

Dr. Tom’s main website is here

Then in this show I answer the following questions:

1. An integrative medicine doctor’s answer to weight loss.

2. A few words about Parkinson’s disease.

3. Vitamin D and pregnancy – a very important issue.

4. An integrative approach to allergy management.

5. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, vitamin D, and a comment from a listener about
the clarity of my skin!

I also announced in this podcast that many listeners are asking me to guide them to physician-quality products that can help their health. I’m going to be setting up a survey monkey questionnaire asking if you would be interested in my having such products available on my website that you can buy through my site.

Also I announced that the voicemail system I’ve been using is not working that well, and I invite you to send your questions to me by email and not by voicemail until we get this problem resolved. My email is on the front page of my site.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

Wishing you the best in health through understanding Enlightened
Medicine, Conscious Living, and Compassionate Healing.

Dr. Soram

Now at long last a governmental agency called the Interagency Breast Cancer & Environmental Research Coordinating Committee has issued a new report. The title of this report is Breast Cancer and the Environment – Prioritizing Prevention.

Finally, the National Institute of Health is acknowledging the most important role of environmental toxicity in the causation of breast cancer. In addition they state they are changing their focus from diagnosis and treatment to a focus of prevention. As many of you know I have been saying for many years that this focus needs to change.

In addition finally they are stating “Despite decades of productive breast cancer research, the number of women diagnosed with the disease continues to rise”. For years the cancer agencies have been saying that breast cancer is going down. That is NOT what my colleagues and I have seen. Now, finally they are admitting that the rate of breast cancer IS continuing to increase.

Here is the link to the site of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the announcement. Please download the PDF near the bottom of the page for more details.

Breast Cancer and Vitamin D-More information!

More and more studies are coming out about the benefits of vitamin D. The study I mentioned on my Dr Oz interview shows the relationship between vitamin D and breast cancer. A new study by my colleague Cedric Garland, Ph.D. is just out again showing the relationship between low vitamin D and increased incidence of breast cancer. This is why I am so careful about measuring all your vitamin D levels regularly throughout the year. And encourage you to get yours tested at least once or twice a year.
Read about it here. And get your friends on Vitamin D !

My do-it-yourself Home Test Kit can be purchased HERE.

The lectures were outstanding from a group of doctors. I feel that it is essential that women do a program that allows for preconception optimization. As I’ve mentioned before, I do this in my practice on a regular basis with my patients who want to get pregnant, and encourage you and your friends to find a doctor who does this before you conceive.

I go on to talk about an article from the BBC about toxic chemicals that could be causing the Pandemic of brain disorders that we are seeing.

I also refer my listeners to the Foresight website which is based in England about preconception preparation.

I then review a study showing that people who have Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts do much worse with a low vitamin D level.

I then talk also about the article on the importance of taking coenzyme Q 10 when taking Staten drugs which you can find here. This is amazing that it is finally being published in the main medical journals. Integrative medicine doctors have been prescribing coenzyme Q-10 for 20 years to statin users.

I reference an article that was just published in the very prominent Journal of the American College of Cardiology that finds yoga to be a safe effective treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation. If you have family or friends with this condition please show them this article.

I also reference the Collaborative on Health and the Environment – an excellent website on the role of the environment in our health.

The YouTube video I mentioned about the Fake Obesity Experts which is most informative can be found at this link.

We then move forward with part two of my interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan on gluten sensitivity. We start out with questions about the laboratory results and move on to some very important information.

There are 19,000 studies in the medical literature about how gluten affects the body. Dr. O Bryan points out that everything from infertility to Ménière’s disease and children with drug-resistant epilepsy can be caused by gluten sensitivity that is unrecognized.

Dr. O’ Bryan points out, as I do to my patients, that you don’t have to get rid of the doctor you’re currently using but you bring a Functional  Medicine practitioner on board to help get to some of the underlying causes of your health problems.

We then talk about Standard Mortality Ratio and the data for people that recognize they have a gluten sensitivity versus people that may not.

Dr. O’ Bryan reminds us that it’s eight times more likely that a gluten sensitivity will manifest outside of the gut than in the gut.

In the last part of the podcast answer questions from my listeners on acne, eczema, vitamin D and pregnancy, and osteoarthritis. If you have friends with any of these conditions I encourage you to let them take a listen to my podcast.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on  Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

Wishing you all the very best in health.
Dr. Soram

Your questions have been overwhelming and I am trying to get answers back to you as fast as I can.

I want to honor all of my listeners and readers. You have shown me the value of being on Twitter and on Facebook. I had not been on either of them for a while and now I am on them regularly. I plan to put out at least two twitter feeds per day and to be updating my Facebook page on a regular basis. The promise always give you interesting things to learn about in my feeds.

Because of your strong encouragement for me to get my word out, in this issue I review some of the very interesting articles that I have been reading to send out to you on Twitter and Facebook.

You can listen to the podcast for details but here are the links:
Surprising Connections Between Our Well-Being and Giving, Getting, and Gratitude
“Berry” Good for Your Heart!

The Not-So-Sweet Side Effects of Soda

Low blood lead levels linked to lower IQ in Italian kids.

Chemical tied to intergenerational obesity

Now onto this issue’s interview. For the next few sessions we will be shifting our focus to the role of gluten in human health.
For years doctors have run Celiac Apply the Panels on patients and if this one test is negative, told the patient they don’t have to worry about eating gluten. However a lot of people have realized that they have a sensitivity to gluten even though they don’t have classical Celiac Disease.
What to do about these people to obviously have a sensitivity to Gluten. Finally, a new category of gluten diagnosis has been made and it is called Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity.

How do we diagnose such patients? How do we treat them? Can they get by with just reducing gluten or must they avoided altogether? What are the symptoms and signs of such a gluten sensitivity?

These are questions that my patients bring to me every day. There are an enormous number of people who have what we call Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity. In my practice I have seen lives change by the recognition and treatment of this condition.

This is the first of three podcasts on the subject of gluten sensitivity. My special guest that I interview is Dr. Tom O’Bryan, who has spent the last many years studying and teaching the importance of the recognition of gluten sensitivity. He is an internationally recognized speaker and workshop leader as well as a clinician par excellence in treating chronic disease and metabolic disorders from a functional medicine perspective.

In this podcast we talk about the following:
1. Gluten is a family of proteins not a single protein.
2. There is a groundswell movement of people recognizing their own gluten sensitivity.
3. People are recognizing that everything from migraines to seizure disorders might be helped by a gluten free diet.
4. It is only recently that gluten sensitivity is being recognized by traditional medicine.
5. The gluten concentration in wheat has gone up to 50% due to the plant being hybridized. From a commercial perspective, it’s quite valuable to have a high gluten content in your bread.
6. The word gluten means glue.
7. Dr. Fasano, a world-famous gluten researcher has said “no human can digest the gluten, in wheat, today”.
8. Immune tolerance makes it so that some people are able to eat gluten and not get sick. However, in a person with a compromised immune system, this could be the straw that broke the camels back
9. Gluten sensitivity is much more than just digestive problems. For every one person that has got digestive symptoms from gluten, there are eight that don’t. The symptoms are in some other part of their body.
10. Dr. Fasano estimates that 30% of the population has a sensitivity to gluten.
11. There are now new blood tests for gluten sensitivity, and these can be very helpful in diagnosis.
12. A simple definition of gluten sensitivity is: if you go off gluten you feel better! This type of challenge can be good for people who do not want to do the blood test.
13. Dr. O’Bryan gives us the analogy of the lining of the small intestine being like a shag carpeting. If you have gluten sensitivity that shags wear down and food and nutrients cannot be absorbed well. The medical words for the shags in micro villi.
14. For proper diagnosis of celiac disease, a patient will have an endoscopy and biopsies of the intestines will be done to see if the shags on his lining are worn down. This can be seen under the microscope.
15. People with their shags borne down, which is called villous atrophy, had a 39% increased risk of dying early in life of heart disease cancer or something else.
16. If the villi were not worn down but you just had a positive celiac blood tests increased risk of dying was 35%. This is about the same.
17. Gluten sensitivity causes inflammation in the intestines. This in fact can be a hidden cause of elevated CRP in people with heart disease.
18. Fortunately we now have a new lab called Cyrex labs which contest for other anybody’s rather than only alpha gliadin, the protein that is tested in a traditional celiac panel.
19. The testing at Cyrex labs is able to look at 10 different breakdown products of gluten.

In the next podcast we will go on to discuss the use of the Cyrex tests, where to get them and what they can tell us.

You can see more about Dr O’Bryan on his website.

And Cyrex Labs is here

After my interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan I go on to answer some of your questions that you have emailed to me.

In this show I answer questions about:
1. Acid Reflux
2. Epstein Bar Virus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
3. Vitamin D Dosages I recommend for families.
4. Calcium and vitamin D.
5. Vitamin B 12 and vitamin D deficiency.
I will get to more of your questions in future issues as best I can.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

Because I see patients every day I do recognize the tremendous need that so many people in America have for Integrative Medicine. By using natural types of medicines along with lifestyle changes so many health conditions in America can be very much helped. In addition, with this approach, very often medications can be reduced.

With all the hundreds of questions I’ve received from you, I’m trying to create a way to help you with answers to your questions. Please understand I’m a single physician in practice and I need some type of organized system to give you answers, without being your doctor.

I have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to answer the main categories of questions that you have asked. You can find it here.

I’ve created a quick questionnaire online to see if you would be interested in attending webinars that I would hold. In addition it asked if you would be willing to pay small fee to help cover the overhead of running these webinars? I would appreciate your letting me know by filling out this questionnaire which will only take less than a minute. You can find it here.

For those of you who did not get to see my appearance on Dr. Oz you can watch 2 of the 3 segments RIGHT HERE.

Unfortunately the third part is not yet online and I’m asking the producers if they can add it as it was my favorite part! On this segment I was introduced to Kathy Smart and Cynthia Besson, who have been fans of mine from my blog and podcast. We met for the first time in person on the show! Then, along with two ladies I taught Dr.’s some Kundalini Yoga on camera!

Also you can read my article for Dr Oz’s site here

I look forward to staying in touch with you. You may leave me comments below this article.

Let’s transition now to my interview for this podcast.

This is the final segment of my interview with Dr. Michael Gregor.

In this segment I start out by asking him about exercise. He reminds us that the most important muscle in the body is the cardiac muscle. He recommends walking four miles per hour per day he reminds us that we can make it fun, and he does remind us that there are other exercises that we can do instead. Exercise helps us with insulin sensitivity and other biochemical processes that keep us healthy.

We then talk about natural treatment for high blood pressure. Even independent of obesity, a plant based diet can bring blood pressure down. Dr. Gregor talks about the use of drugs for blood pressure as well and he says it is controversial whether or not drugs for high blood pressure actually reduce mortality rates.

The whole food plant-based diet he reminds us not only lowers blood pressure, but the same diet lowers heart disease and the same diet reverses diabetes. He says “It’s kind of like mother nature has been trying to tell us something… But nobody has been listening.”.

We then go on to talk about diabetes and how 10-year-olds are now getting Type II diabetes. He reminds us that this is an emerging epidemic even people at the exact same weight who eat more plants have a lower diabetes risk. This is analogous to the people that have stomachs – stapling surgery which will improve their diabetes even before they lose weight just by having the surgery.

Next we talk about fibromyalgia and how many people with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia actually have a vitamin D deficiency. Of course I wholeheartedly agree with this. In addition Dr. Gregor always puts his patients on a whole food plant-based diet for fibromyalgia.

I then go on to ask the question that’s been burning on my mind for a while. Tthat is whether a whole food plant-based diet protects us from environmental toxins effects? He reminds us that many of our farm animals are fed the remains of other farm animals. So when we eat animals, we are eating higher on the food chain, which is more likely to have pesticides. Dr. Gregor recommends that we eat low on the food chain and purely organic to minimize our exposure to environmental toxins.

We then go on to talk about cholesterol. Dr. Gregor definitely feels it is best to keep our LDL or bad cholesterol at 60 to 70 g with a total cholesterol of 150. He points out that the average cholesterol of people eating a vegan diet is 150. He reminds us that doctors should give their patients the opportunity to try to change and not work under the assumption that they will never change their bad habits whether it be smoking or the type of diet that they are on.

For more information about Dr. Gregor or to watch his videos you may go to his personal website at HERE or his video website HERE. I do recommend you subscribe by email to his daily videos which are only 2 to 3 minutes long and just full of information on the latest in good health.

Dr Gregor has just posted his 10 most watched videos of the year 2012 and you can see them here, which is a great way to start out with his videos!

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

I have written this response to your specific individual questions and calls for help and will do my best to answer questions as outlined below:

I am considering  setting up a regular series of webinars to answer your questions and talk about health from an Integrative Medicine Point of view. If you are interested please fill out this 2 question survey online to let me know your interest

Webinar Questions

The questions you have written to  me fall into Four categories.  Please see the paragraph relevant to the question that you asked.

1. For those with questions about where to purchase Dr. Soram’s Vitamin D:

Please go to www.drsoram.com/store.  Dr. Soram’s Vitamin D supplements, DVD, book, and at-home Vitamin D test kits are all available on his website.  Please note that due to an overwhelming demand, the Vitamin D 2000 IU is on backorder and will be available in mid to late January.

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer international shipping.

2. For those inquiring about other doctors who practice Integrative Medicine:

You may find other doctors who practice Integrative and Functional Medicine in your area on the following websites:

https://www.functionalmedicine.org/

ACAM

3. For those interested in seeing Dr. Soram for a consultation:

Dr. Soram is currently accepting new patients in his Beverly Hills, CA office.

Please note that like most integrative doctors, Dr. Soram does not take insurance or Medicare.  He is a fee-for-service physician.

Also, the new patient process begins with a 15 minute consultation with the doctor.  In this consultation you will have a chance to meet Dr. Soram and he will have a chance to evaluate why you have come.  This will allow him to tell you if he thinks he is likely to be able to help you, and it will let you meet him personally to see if you want to continue your care with him.  After this consultation if you are going to begin treatment, a complete physical examination will be scheduled some time in the following 1-2 weeks.

4. Answers to your email questions about your personal health:

Dr Soram unfortunately can NOT reply by email to each of your personal health questions as he has received so many emails.  He will answer  questions sent to him on his podcasts and may start Webinars to address bigger questions.  The questions will be addressed in the order they have been received. Please know that Dr Soram cannot TELL you specifically what to do as he has never met you. He will be able to give general directions of information to bring to your own doctor.

Thank you again for your overwhelming response to my appearance on Dr Oz!

Please follow me on Twitter

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I recorded the show in New York in September. It was really a fun thing to do and I was delighted that they gave me three segments with Dr. Oz.

In the first segment we talk about Integrative Medicine. In the second segment we talk about vitamin D and my book on vitamin D. In the third segment, the producers of the show had flown in two of my “Fans” from my website and my podcast site and we met for the first time live on stage in front of the audience! This was truly a thrilling moment to know that I have “Fans” out there, like you who are benefiting from my writing and my podcasts.

After we meet each other, I then teach the two ladies and Dr. Oz a few exercises of Kundalini Yoga. As most of you know I’ve been doing Kundalini Yoga for over 40 years. I still practice it every morning when I get up.

Let me know what you think when you watch the show! I’m excited to see it myself! I hope to hear from you.

My Interview For This Show

I hope you are enjoying my interview of Michael Gregor M.D. as much as I am.

This is part two of my interview and we start out with my asking Dr. Gregor about calcium. He gives the recommendations for calcium of 1000 mg per day.. He does encourage all of us to get our calcium from food however rather than pills.

I then go on to ask Dr.Gregor about the use of the very popular Human Growth Hormone shots. Some of my patients get the shots from other colleagues in town and I do not feel that they are safe. Dr. Krieger gives a very clear explanation on why Human Growth hormone shots are not good for you. Growth hormone not only helps transform the abnormal cells and cancer cells in the first place, it also helps them survive and increases their growth, migration and invasion.

We talk about the difference in growth hormone levels in vegetarians who eat dairy and in vegans who do not. This makes for a very interesting conversation.

We then go on to talk about Premenstrual Syndrome which is so common in our society. Dr. Gregor estimated that one in three women have this condition. Dr. Gregor talks about the amazing research with the spice saffron. Not only did swallowing pills of saffron help women with PMS, but even smelling saffron was helpful! This is amazing! The oral dose of saffron that was used is 30 mg. He encourages you to buy it in the spice aisle rather than in the drugstore aisle. This way you can just add it to your food.

Dr. Gregor laments that there are not more people like him who “troll” through the medical literature finding things to bring out to the world that are not in the major medical journals but which are solidly researched. Dr. Gregor tells me that he has had 5 million hits on his website to watch his videos.

Dr. Gregor and and I then discuss Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopausal women and andropausal men. He is not a big fan of bioidentical hormones. I point out to him  an article which has recently looked at a 10 year study of hormone replacement on women that started hormones at menopause. The study showed that using hormones from the beginning of menopause did not increase the incidence of cancer at all,and indeed decreased heart disease by 50%.

That concludes the second part of our interview in the next and final part of the interview will open with my questions to Dr. Gregor about exercise.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

I filmed the show several months ago in New York. I was told by Dr. Oz’s team that I could not make any mention of it in on my blog until today and that is why I’ve said nothing about it before on my blog.

I was interviewed in three segments. In the first segment, Dr. Oz address the  “Elephant in the room”, with the question “Why are you a Sikh ?” After giving a very straightforward answer to this question, we were able to move on to discuss why integrative medicine will be the future of healthcare in the United States.

In the second segment, we discussed vitamin D and my book about vitamin D. In addition Dr. Oz asked me why I had created my own brand of vitamin D and I answered that question.

In the third segment the Dr. Oz team had flown into of my “Fans” from my blog and podcast! Kathy Smart and Cynthia Besson were flown in to meet me on the show for the first time. Obviously this was very exciting to both of them as well as to me! I had no idea I had so many fans out there!

Kathy is a TV show host and best-selling author, and chef and is also known as Canada’s leading gluten-free expert. Her book is entitled “Live the Smart way: Gluten Free Cookbook” and has sold thousands of copies. It is available on Amazon here. Do check out her website which is HERE . I’m looking forward to doing an interview with her for one of my upcoming podcasts in the New Year.

Cynthia Dr Soram and Kathy after the Dr Oz Show was filmed

After the introduction and greeting of these two lovely ladies Dr. Oz had me go on to teach him a few Kundalini yoga exercises right on camera! I can’t wait to see Dr. Oz and the ladies and I doing yoga together. Of course everything is very abbreviated, because it is TV and every second counts.

Dr Soram Getting Ready to Teach Kundalini Yoga on Set

 I look forward to seeing the show and getting your feedback when it comes out next Friday, December 21, 2012.

Related articles

Integrative medicine is increasingly coming into the news and we are all realizing the important role that our Lifestyle has in affecting our health.

In this podcast I discuss several new articles which have come out.

First I talk about the new information which is just come out on the importance of vitamin D for elderly women. Low vitamin D in these two articles have been associated with impaired cognitive function. This is directly connected with the new epidemic that we are seeing of Alzheimer’s disease. The article is HERE.

I then go on to talk about the new information on high fructose fueling the type II diabetes epidemic. This is research done at the University of Southern California and also the University of Oxford. These articles show that there are potential significant risks in consuming high levels of high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately the United States has the highest consumption of this product. The average American consumes 55 pounds of high fructose corn syrup per year. The second highest is Hungary with 46 pounds per person per year.

The author is quoted as saying “This research suggests that high fructose corn syrup can increase the risk of type II diabetes”. The researchers are calling for better labeling of both fructose and high fructose corn syrup content in foods and beverages in our country. You can read the article HERE

Before we start our interview I talk about the article that just come out showing that many couches in the United States contain toxic chemicals which are associated with lowered IQ, impaired motor development, impaired behavioral development, and low birth weight in children

You can read about it HERE

MY GUEST THIS WEEK

In this podcast I’m delighted to have my colleague Michael Gregor, M.D. Dr Gregor is a founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He is a physician, author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety and public health issues. Currently Dr. Gregor serves as the Director of Public of Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States. Hundreds of his nutrition videos are freely available at NutritionFacts.org with a new video uploaded every day.

I encourage all my readers to subscribe to his daily video by signing up at his website HERE. You will find his daily 2 minute videos of great value for improving your health.

In this interview I ask Dr. Gregor how he founded nutritionfacts.org, and it’s a very interesting story about how he gets all his articles and does the videos by himself. All of this information is on his website for free and it is amazingly updated on a daily basis.

I use this podcast to ask some important questions that my listeners and I are probably very interested in.

I start out by asking him what are his thoughts on the best diet to prevent cancer and heart disease.
After you listen to his answer here I encourage you to watch his lecture on this subject on my site HERE. His lecture is called “Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

We go on to discuss the whole myth about protein and a vegan diet. There is a lot of information on this in the interview.

We then go on to talk about fish oil, DHA and EPA. Again we discussed this extensively and I will let you draw your own conclusions from the podcast.

In the next part of my interview we will discuss the importance of calcium and the correct dosages to take. I also ask him on the next podcast about growth hormone shots which are so popular amongst people who can afford it. In the next podcast we also talk about hormones and specifically PMS and menopause.
Join me in two weeks to listen to part two.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier to join me!

I’ve had the privilege to work with GuruPrem Khalsa for over 30 years now at the Khalsa Medical Clinic. He is an amazing bodywork practitioner who understands the mechanics of our body so well.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to repost this article which GuruPrem has written, on the correct way to breathe. Scroll to the bottom to see how to connect with him directly.

Breathing by GuruPrem Singh Khalsa

One thing I can say with absolute certainty, if I am breathing then I am alive!  Everyone who is alive is breathing.  We all breathe, but very few know how do so properly. Typically we remain so unaware of our breathing the we are often surprised to learn that something as common as speaking is done on an exhale.  We breathe a lot, approximately 20,000 times a day, about 15 breaths per minute, in our so called relaxed state. You might think that with all this practice we would be good at it.  The problem is, for the most part, we have become well practiced at being incorrect.

Why do humans have to be taught how to breathe? Don’t we do so naturally? This is one of the biggest distinctions between humans and animals.  Animals which are born to live by their instincts and impulses, are naturally programed to breathe according to their needs and circumstances.  Humans who are born to live by intuition need to train the breath to serve their higher nature.  And what is this higher nature that distinguishes humans from all other creatures?  It is the ability to relate to our souls and experience the Generator, Organizer and Deliverer of this human life.

As humans we are as calm, nervous, angry or sad, as we are breathing. This is where our great challenge arises. It is difficult to breathe calmly when we have been paradoxical breathers or shallow breathers for many years.  After many millions of shallow breaths we have become stuck in the habit of breathing patterns that reflect our unresolved emotions and feelings.

These breathing habits inform our posture and ultimately becomes our posture.  This dilemma of the human respiratory system has been understood for thousands of years by the very wise. Unfortunately this wisdom has not circulated freely in the public domain.  My teacher, Yogi Bhajan, brought Kundalini Yoga to the West, in part to teach the common person how to move, breathe, think and speak consciously, and thus to be calm and relaxed.  It is a very difficult world today, but with the skill of breath management we can learn better stress management.

We need to learn to become calm.To become calm we must learn to calm our breath.To calm the breath we must learn to equalize the speed of the inhale with the exhale.

I wrote this article to explain some of the mechanics of correct breathing and the most common errors that obstruct this process.

Check  Your Breathing

To check your breathing come sitting up with your feet on the floor parallel to each other about 6 inches apart, notice your sitz bones touching the chair and sit with your spin as straight as you can.

Incorrect or Paradoxical Breathing:

Shoulders will rise on the inhale and drop on the exhale – You may feel tension in the shoulders, neck, upper back or face

Belly may feel tight all the time or distended all the time

Belly may distend/expand out on the exhale

Chest and rib cage fall on the exhale

Shoulders and upper back will feel tight.

Here are two examples of postural mis-alignment due to incorrect breathing

Bad Posture

One Example of Bad Posture

Another Example of Bad Posture

Correct Breathing:

The diaphragm will expand and descend on the inhale, for this to happen the belly will need to relax and will expand a bit.

On the exhale, the belly will draw back towards the spine and the lower ribs will draw together and diaphragm will ascend.

Shoulders, neck, jaw and face will feel relaxed.

Here is an example of correct standing alignment.

Good Posture and Breathing

Tips to Learn which abdominal muscles to use for proper exhalation:

To get a feel for using your abdominals to exhale, pucker your lips and pretend that you are trying to blow out candles without moving your torso or head forward, just use your lower abdominals, and blow, notice how your belly tries to pull in and up, try keeping the chest and ribcage lifted, now slow your breath down and try again and make the breath smoother and longer, then slowly inhale through the nose, ideally we want to learn to breathe mostly through our nose, if possible.

Those who have been blessed with the opportunity to move and breathe correctly, can learn to reduce the unnecessary tension or ‘armor’ of the mind and body. To surrender this unnecessary tension we must learn to relax.

If our breathing skills are underdeveloped we tend to have weak and unsupportive exhales along with weak and poorly supported postures.  Fundamentally the exhale is the key to relaxation as well as the key to correct posture. The exhale that properly ascends the thoracic diaphragm establishes the position to receive a fully expansive and more symmetrical inhale.  Generally speaking, the quality of the exhale directly influences the quality of the inhale.

Focus on your exhale:

Our job with breathing correct is the exhale, this is what you want to focus on, guide your exhale and the inhale will move into the space you have created.  Exhale completely and you will feel more fulfilled with the inhale, if you want to change how you feel, exhale how you want to feel.  Want to feel Happy?  Exhale with a smile on you face and feel as though the exhale is supporting the smile on your face.

We must give to receive, exhale out the old breath to receive fresh air on the inhale.

As a result of this overall respiratory weakness, most people exhale themselves into a state of confinement instead of refinement. This confinement becomes obvious as people age. It is very common to loose inches of height as we move through our lives. A man might be six feet tall at forty years old, but at sixty “shrinks” to five foot ten. In addition to diminished height, a loss in lung capacity also occurs. This loss of spinal flexibility as well as lung capacity makes breathing more difficult which stresses our “stress management” further.  There is a saying, “you are as old as your spine,” if you want to age gracefully, learn to breathe calmly and stay flexible.

Here is a Video with Guru Prem showing exactly how to breathe!

——————————-

GuruPrem Singh Khalsa is the author of two books that directly related to the body and how to use it correctly: Divine Alignment & The Heart Rules.  You can find out more about him at: www.divinealignment.com and the books are available on Amazon.com.  He has worked at Khalsa Medical Clinic for over 30 years as a Breath & Postural Alignment Therapist.

Related articles

• Move of the Week: Diaphragmatic Breathing
• Breath to relax

I have the pleasure to present to you this lecture by Dr. Gregor in which he discusses the 15 major causes of death in America and how the foods in our diet all contribute or cause to these major causes of death.  Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers in the United States.

If you like this video, you can buy it at Amazon here as a DVD to share with your friends.

I am delighted to have the privilege to have a several part interview with Dr. Gregor coming up on my podcasts in the near future. Check my website for the exact date.

I also encourage you to check out his website HERE where you can subscribe to his latest daily 2 minute videos about health and diet.

What are your thoughts about the diet that Dr. Gregor talks about in this video? Do you have friends or relatives who are following that diet? Are they in better health as a result of it? Let me know.

Related articles

• Kathy Freston: Why Do Vegetarians Live Longer?
• Uprooting the leading causes of death
• Soy Consumption LOWERS Risk For Breast Cancer

I open this podcast talking about how proposition 37 was turned down by the voters thanks to an enormous amount of money put in by large corporations who did not want their products to lose money. This was a proposition which would have required products containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled. (GMO’s)

You can learn more about this subject by going to the website www.responsibletechnology.org.

I also remind you about the importance clean fresh seeds that we all grow our food from. There is an excellent video that is narrated by Jeremy Irons that you can watch at this website.

We open this podcast by talking about the role that heavy metals play in the diagnosis of ADD and ADHD.

Dr. Crinnion talks about how the mother is eating tuna to get the fish oil to have a smart kid. But the methylmercury that comes along with the fish can dramatically increase the child’s risk of ADHD. Dr. Crinnion expresses that mercury and PCBs which is also in farmed salmon negates the benefit of the fish oil and take the brain the other way.

We talk about a product called Neuromins in which is a DHA product that is derived from a vegetarian source. He also points out that DHA also helps older people with their brains as well!

We then talk about the role of lead in contributing to ADHD as well. There is a new article in the October 2012 issue of environmental health perspectives in which they discuss prenatal methylmercury and lead and ADHD symptomatology in childhood.

Dr. Crinnion also reminds us that women should take calcium whilepregnant to prevent lead being leached out of their bones and going into the fetus.

We both discuss how heavy metal toxicity in the mother is easily treatable before she becomes pregnant.

Dr. Crinnion reviews the specific  lead blood levels in children that are associated with ADD.

We talk about the myth that people think children get lead poisoning from eating paint in their house. In point of fact if there is lead paint in a house it breaks down on its own into the fine dust which is then breathed in in the house. Also lead from leaded gasoline used in cars before it was made illegal, still remains in the soil around the homes.

Dr. Crinnion gives the example of a nice area in downtown Seattle that was close to Interstate 5. They recently found that the soil in the beautiful upscale neighborhoods in the area near the freeway were so contaminated with lead that the owners were told to cement over the dirt and not to let the kids play.

Also he points out that there is lead in cigarettes so that if a parent is smoking in the home, the child gets exposed to lead that way as well.

We also talk about plastic toys and how they may contain lead especially for imported from China. This includes the recent fiasco of a large food chain which had to recall over 1 million toys that they had given out to children because they discovered lead in all the toys.

Herbert Needleman M.D. was one of the original doctors who show that lead in low levels can affect children’s neurodevelopment.

Organophosphates and phthalates are also problems in regards to ADD. Parents do not realize this. For example they will install a new shower curtain which out gases phthalates for a long time. Phthalates are plasticizers. Parents should begin to pay attention to the personal care products which contain phthalates.

Also air filtration and furnace filtering on important issues in the house to keep the air clean

We talk about preconception care and our ability now with modern technology to measure women’s levels of these chemicals and metals before they get pregnant in addition we can clean them out.

As a side issue Dr. Crinnion reminds us that the higher the level of phthalates in your blood and urine the bigger your waistline. This is because they were also metabolic disruptors.

The question comes up how do you find a doctor and its knowledgeable about this. Dr. Crinnion has created on his website a list of the doctors that have taken the environmental training course that he’s been giving for the last 12 years.

I refer you to Dr. Walter Crinnion’s excellent book Clean, Green, and Lean, which is an excellent practical guide to how to get your house clean of foreign chemicals. This would be a great asset for preparing your house for a new baby.

The book is here

And kindle version here.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier to join me!

References from this Podcast

Case-control study of blood lead levels and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Chinese children.

Prenatal Methylmercury, Postnatal Lead Exposure, and Evidence of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder among Inuit Children in Arctic Québec.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and urinary metabolites
of organophosphate pesticides.

However, before we get to the substance of this podcast I want to remind you that for a few more days,  this very important documentary on the role of GMOs in your health and health of your family is still online to watch for free. I urge you to watch it and to apply it to your life.

It is free to watch HERE!

I remind everybody that we now know  that one in six children in America has a developmental disability. The spectrum of these disorders includes autism, learning disorders or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which is what we are talking about today.

From 1997 to 1999 from the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention studies, they recognize the 12.8% of children were diagnosed with a developmental disability. In 2008 this rose to 15%. These studies lag behind the current date, but we do know that it is continuing to rise.

There is great expense involved in taking care of children with ADHD – taking your children to the doctors, getting diagnosed, taking medications getting special schooling etc. in addition there is a tremendous emotional and stress cost to the family as well as to the child with ADHD. And the emotional costs to the child, continue to add up throughout their whole life.

Therefore if we as parents can do anything to prevent this are helping to alter and improve their lives.

We then go on to talk about all the environmental toxicants, all of which are common that are contributors to ADHD.

The good news is that the majority of these toxins levels are very correctable by changing one’s diet and lifestyle as well as the things in the house. So the majority of things which have been highly associated with ADHD are fixable things and that is the good news.

In addition when you make the changes in diet and lifestyle they will help everybody in the household –the whole family not just a child.

Everybody thinks that these children are JUST the children of farmworkers who are  getting exposed to pesticides all day. Dr. Crinnion quickly dismantles that myth.

We go on to talk about organophosphate pesticides which are the ones found in non-organic fruits and vegetables. For example one of these dimethyl – triphosphate, when found in children above the CDC mean levels, doubled the risk of the children getting ADHD. And this was not in the womb, but in children that were being raised from birth.

Just this last September there was an update from the CDC. In looking at this particular pesticide, the levels in children aged 6 to 11 have been going up each year that the CDC looks at it. This correlates with the incidence of ADHD  going up.

Dr. Crinnion and I both recommend that you go to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) site and download the list of the 12 most pesticided fruits and vegetables for when you go shopping.. That is where you want to spend the extra money and go organic.

That food list is here for your phone, tablet or print out

and more information here

This is important for the  woman while she is pregnant as well, because organophosphate pesticides during pregnancy is also recognized the cause chronic neurological problems in the child.

We then go on to talk about chlorinated pesticides, and PCB exposure in utero and ADHD. Current exposure to these primarily comes from farmed salmon and catfish. We talk about how mothers who are pregnant are wanting to make the kid smart so they eat fish to get the fish oil. They do not realize they are also getting these persistent pollutants. Dr. Crinnion gives the name of several brands of farmed fish.

Dr. Crinnion point out that there are a blood tests that can be done for any woman who is considering conceiving to see what her levels are. I do these routinely on women in my practice who want this information before they conceive.

Dr. Crinnion reminds me that the same toxicants that we are talking about are also associated with higher rates of asthma, allergies, obesity, diabetes and a whole host of other adverse health problems in the child.

Dr. Crinnion stated: “You want the best for your kid. This is some of the cheapest insurance you can get.”

We then go on to talk about using pesticides in your house to treat insects. Both Dr. Crinnion and I strongly encourage you to look for nonchemical alternatives to bug problems.

Some of my patients wanting to make their house pretty before the baby is born lay down new carpeting. We talk about  the risks associated with that.

I refer you to Dr. Walter Crinnion’s excellent book Clean, Green, and Lean, which is an excellent practical guide to how to get your house clean of foreign chemicals. This would be a great asset for preparing your house for a new baby.

The book is here

And kindle version here

In part two of this podcast with Dr. Crinnion I will go on to talk about the effects of heavy metals and phthalates, which are found in personal care products and their relationships to ADHD.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on   HYPERLINK  Twitter and on  Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier to join me!

References from this Podcast

 EWG Safe Cleaning Tips

Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and urinary metabolites of organophosphate pesticides.

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides and IQ in 7-year-old children.

Increased risk of ADHD associated with early exposure to pesticides, PCBs.

Prenatal organochlorine exposure and behaviors associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in school-aged children.

The speakers were excellent and I learned even more information about why the vegan/vegetarian diet is the best diet for most of us.

But the lecture that caught me the most by surprise and opened  my eyes the most, was the lecture by Jeffrey M. Smith on the health risks of genetically engineered foods specifically genetically modified organisms or GMO’s.

A GMO is the result of a laboratory process where genes from one species including bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or humans – are forced into the DNA of unrelated plants or animals. This process is fraught with dangerous side effects, because this process is NOT an exact science as we have been led to believe by the food corporations.

There are two main types of GMO crops. The herbicide tolerant varieties are engineered to withstand high doses of toxic weed killers, such as Roundup. These toxins are now linked to birth defects, cancer and hormone disruption and they end up inside our foods.

Other plants, like corn, are designed to produce their own poisonous insecticide in every cell. For example, the Insecticide called BT – toxin, breaks open the stomach of certain insects to kill them. However recent evidence now shows that BT – toxin can also break the walls of human cells. BT – toxin from genetically modified corn was found in the blood of 93% of pregnant women in 80% of their unborn fetuses.

We as laypeople have the false impression that genetic engineering is exact. However in truth it is submicroscopic and results in unpredictable and potentially dangerous changes in the organism’s DNA and the health properties of that food. In other words there is a lot of “scatter”.

Specifically when our bodies get a genetically modified food, it does not recognize it and doesn’t know what to do with it. We as doctors are realizing in these cases our body  may be treating it as an allergen, that it does not recognize. When that happens it contributes to “punching holes” in the lining of the small intestine and these unrecognized and incompletely digested foods can send molecules into our bloodstream. This contributes to setting up allergic and autoimmune reactions in our bodies.

GMOs are now associated with infertility, immune problems, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs including the digestive track. Environmentally oriented doctors are helping people with conditions as varied as allergies to ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease by having their patients stop all GMO foods, as a trial.

If you are interested in learning more about GM owes and how they may be affecting your family and loved ones, I’m delighted to let you know that a movie entitled Genetic Roulette is available to watch for free this week  at this website.  I also have put a copy on my website for you to watch here if you like. This movie is directed by Jeffrey M. Smith and was most eye-opening to me.

This issue has now become political and I am happy to say that in California, we have a proposition on our next ballot – prop 37-that will require manufacturers to label genetically modified food as such. The food industry is spending vast amount of monies to shoot this proposition down as they know if people have a choice to use non-genetically modified organisms as opposed to genetically modified organisms,  that they will choose the non-genetically modified organisms and as a result the companies will lose money.

Please let your friends and family know about this most important issue and visit this website to get an enormous amount of additional information, brochures, pamphlets, DVDs to help educate yourself so that we may turn the tide on the predominance of  these genetically modified organisms which are affecting our health.

You can also download shopping guides to help you find safe foods from this related website

There is also an app for your Iphone that has this information in easy to find fashion!
And you can buy the book with all the data in it here

Let me know what you think in the comments about this information. Is your doctor aware of the dangers of GMO’s? Do you or your family have any medical conditions that might be related to GMO’s? If you do you might consider shopping for a month or two for all GMO- free food to see if it makes a difference in your health.

Let me know!

Related articles

• Rid the Body of Dangerous Bt-toxin Found in Genetically Modified Food
• Everything you HAVE TO KNOW about Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods
• National Day of Action Against Genetically Modified Foods
• Raising awareness of genetically altered food
• Non-GMO is the way to go…

Click here to read my entire post on this subject.

Here is the GMO website I talk about

You can click here to watch the Movie for free this week on Genetic Roulette

In this podcast I conclude with part three of my interview with Dr. Ron Karlsberg, Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of medicine.

We finish up discussing this very valuable test called the Coronary CT Angiogram.

We start off this interview with the cost of this test which at some centers in Southern California is $1500 and others only $800. Dr. Karlsberg describes how you will see your own heart in three dimensions. You are able to slide through the arteries of your heart. Some of Dr. Karlsberg’s patients have been movie producers who want to use this technology in their next movie!

We talk about the preparation for the procedure including how they will most likely give you an intravenous medicine to slow your heart rate and possibly a nitroglycerin spray under your tongue to let your arteries be more clearly visible. I also recommend that you take a nutraceutical called NAC 500 mg twice a day for three days before the test and two days after the test. This minimizes the impact of the iodine dye that will be injected on the kidneys.

Dr. Karlsberg then discusses some of the other preparation for the test.

I then asked Dr. Karlsberg if a patient gets this test, do they need any other test. His reply is as long as any blockage found is less than 55% no further tests are needed.

We also discussed whether carotid artery ultrasound scanning would be additionally helpful.

If the arteries are calcified and sometimes the soft plaque is not as visible and we discussed this.

Dr. Karlsberg points out that in patients who have mild symptoms or symptoms that were not clearly cardiac that this test could replace a real angiogram to get clarification about the cardiac status.

I then asked Dr. Karlsberg about when a follow-up test would be done. In a word his answer is in 3 to 5 years.

We then briefly talk about the indications for bypass surgery for the heart.

I then asked Dr. Karlsberg what LDL level he likes patients even without disease to have. and his answer is that the he would like to see the LDL between 100 and 130.

He reminds us of the recent TV show on CNN called the Last Heart Attack. I encourage you to watch this if you’ve not seen it already.

Dr. Karlsberg closes by reminding us that this test is a CT scan not an MRI, so you are not enclosed in a narrow tube whatsoever. Whether you are in a big donut that is several feet above your face.

For more information about Dr. Karlsberg and this test you can go to Cardiovascular Medical Group or their research foundation at CVRF.net.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on  Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

For the TRANSCRIPT of this Interview click PAGE 2 just below

For years now my patients with breast cancer or who have risk for breast cancer have repeatedly asked me if it is safe to take soy products. Oncologists have repeatedly told them that soy products have “hormones” and that these could contribute to breast cancer, and therefore women should AVOID soy products at all times.

I extensively researched this soy issue, and talked with many colleagues in integrative medicine all over the world and found that this explanation from their oncologists was not correct.

I explained to my patients, that the “hormones” in soy were not real hormones but that they were Phyto-hormones, and that these hormones actually help protect the estrogen receptors from the woman’s own estrogen. Therefore there would be no increased risk whatsoever for getting breast cancer when eating soy products.

However the oncologists have persistently told my patients the opposite and I understand that my patients would be confused and might err on the side of “safety” and NOT eat soy products.

Now we have three solid studies showing the exact opposite of what my patients have been told by other doctors. Specifically that soy consumption improves the prognosis of women who had breast cancer, and actually women eating soy with a history of breast cancer had a REDUCED incidence of death. In one study, women on Tamoxifin, who consumed the most soy, had a 60% reduction in breast cancer recurrence compared to women who did not eat soy.

Below you will find a video from my colleague Michael Gregor, M.D. explaining all this from the medical journal articles. He has given me permission to use his videos which also appear on YouTube on my website, whenever I would like.

  You may ask “Well how much soy is safe then?” The answer as Dr. Gregor explains in this video is 3 -5 servings a day is safe. So that would mean you could safely have soy with every meal and be safe, even with a history of breast cancer.

Dr. Gregor has a wonderful website which is NUTRITION FACTS and a daily newsletter with the latest updates in subjects directly related to integrative medicine as appearing in the traditional medical literature. His bias, like mine, is to encourage patients to eat a Whole Food Plant Based diet.  I highly recommend you subscribe to his daily newsletter. It is amazing that he can read every medical journal article that is published and sift out the essence and present it to us in a two-minute video on a daily basis.

Dr. Gregor has also written an article on Soy and Breast cancer which you can find HERE.

I look forward to hearing your comments about this new information. Are you a breast cancer survivor? What do you think of this information? Will it change your dietary habits? Put a note in the comments below please.

I also talk about how I had the privilege to meet with Dr. Wayne Dyer while I was visiting in Hawaii. We had a wonderful conversation together and it was most uplifting to me. I highly recommend to you his new book which is a bestseller called Wishes Fulfilled. It is a difficult time on planet earth for all of us, and this book will help guide you to getting what is most important to you.

Or you can get it on Kindle here.

I also mentioned in the podcast the teacher Neville and I definitely can recommend his book called the Power of Awareness.

Or you can get it on Kindle here.

We then go on to part two of my interview with Dr. Ron Karlsberg. As you know, he is a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA School of medicine.

This interview for those of you just joining, is about the importance of the CT angiogram and how it can save lives.

In this part of the podcast I asked Dr. Karlsberg about radiation exposure in the test and the use of iodine as a contrast medium. We also talk about other risks which are very low level. We go over the details of the preparation for the test, and Dr. Karlsberg points out that in over 5000 cases that they have performed at his office, they haven’t had even one complication from any medicines that were used. He also points out that his centers and other centers have invented ways to reduce the radiation by 90% –specifically for you scientists out there the estimated radiation from this test is 2.5 milli-Sievers.

We then go on to talk about the indications for the test especially in symptomatic people. We also talk about the use of the test in the asymptomatic patient. In this case, which is how I often do it in my office it is considered a screening procedure.

I then talk about a particular patient mine who was having chest pain and how we were able to immediately get him in for the CT angiogram and found his arteries to be completely wide-open. We knew then that is chest pain was not cardiac in origin.

Another situation where this test is especially valuable is in a patient with a very strong family history of premature heart disease.

We then briefly talk about the “widow maker” artery and exactly what it is.

Of course the question of whether insurance covers this test comes up and the good news is that some insurances do pay for the cardiac CT.

Dr. Karlsberg points out how this test could actually allow someone with no cardiac plaque to come off of some of their cardiac medicines– specifically statins.

Dr. Karlsberg goes on to talk about new drugs that he is evaluating with which the HDL also known as the good cholesterol can be increased by 130%.

After this part two of the interview, I go on to answer several questions submitted by listeners just like you. I appreciate the questions because it lets me expand the show and also give guidance to my listeners.

In this podcast I address the questions sent in by Gail and another listener Akea (? not sure about how she spells her name) regarding SIBO and its treatment. I am seeing so many patients with SIBO and I talk about why I think it is becoming more prevalent.

Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE my on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Now that I’ve got my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier.

Best wishes
Dr Soram

Just two days after I got back from Hawaii I went to the Dr. John McDougall advanced weekend in Santa Rosa California that I told you about on the last podcast. It was a fantastic meeting. Dean Ornish M.D., was the lead speaker and he gave a wonderful talk about the work he’s doing with diet and lifestyle in reversing heart disease and stabilizing or reversing prostate cancer. Here is his site

and here is his lecture on TED

Also William Roberts, M.D., the editor of the American Journal of Cardiology also gave a great lecture and you watch a free YouTube video of him entitled “Humans are Herbivores”.

I encourage any of you who are vegans or are interested in being a vegan to come to the next intensive that he has which will be in March of next year.

For those of you who were not able to attend the conference, you can watch the recorded videos on Dr. McDougall’s website.

There is a fee for this but it is well worth it, and you don’t  even have to leave your house!

In this podcast today,  I interview one of my cardiac consultants, Ron Karlsberg M.D. Dr. , is an expert clinical interventional cardiologist with extensive experience in consultative cardiology, clinical research and he is the recipient of over 300 research grants in cardiology. Dr. Karlsberg has a special interest in digital medical imaging. He is a recognized expert in incorporating state-of-the-art treatments and cutting-edge medical therapies into clinical practice. He directs the CVM G advanced imaging Center which is one of the first office-based 64 CT centers. The CVMG Advanced Imaging Centers in collaboration with Cedars Sinai Medical Centerne of the large experiences in advanced office-based cardiac Imaging.

In this interview, Dr. Karlsberg and I discuss a new technique called the CT Cardiac Angiogram. In our discussion, we review exactly what is involved  in this cardiac test. We discuss how this test compares with the traditional EBCT calcium score.

We discuss the two types of plaque that the heart can get-calcified plaque, and soft non-calcified plaque. A person with no calcium plaque has at least a 95% chance of not having a cardiac event (for example a heart attack) in the next five years.

The difference between the CT angiogram and a simple calcium scan or EBCT is that the angiogram uses a small amount of contrast media which is medical iodine. In the CT angiogram, very sophisticated enhanced software allows the doctor to create a 3-D image of the heart and actually see the coronary arteries. With this technique early cardiac plaque can be identified and specifically plaques that are at risk for closing (occlusion) are very visible.

With soft plaque, early intervention is very important. Soft plaque can break off and cause a heart attack.

We discuss exercise tests and Dr. Karlsberg points out that these tests measure the consequences of reduced blood flow. These tests will go positive once there is an 80 to 90% blockage of an artery. He points out that exercise testing can miss narrowing of the arteries including serious narrowing. He points out that exercise testing tends to underestimate the amount of plaque.

Dr. Karlsberg reminds me that the CT angigram is new technology and we must be cautious about integrating this test with the other tests available to cardiologists.

He states that a CT angiogram will never miss disease if the study and technique are good.

In my next podcast I will have part two of my interview with Dr. Karlsberg. We lead off that conversation with a discussion of what are the risks associated with the CT Angiogram.

Dr Karlsberg can be contacted through his website .

Do you have family or friends who have had heart disease? Have they had this test? Do you see the advantage and usefulness of this test in screening people who are at risk but to have no symptoms? I look forward to hearing from you either in comments below or through e-mail at questions@askdrsoram.com.

In addition, I’m very excited to let you all know and share with you that I will be attending the Dr. John McDougall Retreat, which is an advanced study weekend on September 7th to 9th. By the time you listen to this, this conference will be sold out, but you can go to DrMcDougall.com and you can actually sign up to watch it live via the internet, which is fabulous if you don’t want to travel up to Santa Rosa. This is on the weekend of September 7th to 9th.

Dr. McDougall, as you may know, has a retreat center where people with chronic disease – everything from heart disease to cancer – come and go and spend ten intensive days on lifestyle management and Dietary changes; and he has these wonderful advanced study weekends and I’m going to attend this in person myself this time because some of his guests are just too good to miss.

W. Clifford Roberts, who is the current editor of the American Journal of Cardiology and executive director of the Bailor Cardiovascular Institute in Dallas, (pictured in this article) will be speaking. He has a wonderful YouTube video entitled Humans are Herbivores. Times are really changing when the editor of the American Journal Cardiology, the most prestigious journal of cardiology in the United States, is coming to speak at a conference about lifestyle and diet.

In addition, Dean Ornish is going to be speaking there. He is a world renowned researcher in the treatment of common diseases with diet.

In addition, George Lundberg, who is the former editor of JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and currently the editor of Med Page today, is going to be speaking.

And, on top of that, my colleague and friend Keith Block, who’s the founder of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment, is coming to speak.

So, it’s going to be a fabulous weekend. I wish all of my listeners could come up, but, as I said, by the time this podcast plays, I know it’s going to be closed; but they will have internet availability, so you can watch it on the internet. There is a fee, but it’s quite reasonable for the whole weekend.

So, when I come back from this, I am sure I’m going to have plenty of things exciting to share with you. In addition, as I said, in the wings, is my interview with Dr. Karlsberg about the CT Angiogram, which is a very special interview and I’m in the process of preparing that but won’t be able to do it until I get back.
So, I just wanted to thank you for faithfully listening to my podcast. I’m getting very many downloads. I hope some of you are able, if you’re enjoying my podcast and feel they’re helpful to you and your family, to please put a review on iTunes so that more attention is brought to it. I also want to let you know that I’ve started a weekly newsletter on Integrative Medicine that is being… I’ve hired some writers to help me write it, which will save me time because, as all of you know, I have a busy medical practice. Right now it is being sent to all my patients, and if you sign up on my website, DrSoram.com, within a couple of weeks, you can get my weekly newsletter on the latest in Integrative Medicine.

So, with that, I want to thank all of you for tuning in today. If you have questions, you know you can email me at questions@askdrsoram.com or you can call me directly and leave a voicemail at 310-499-0275. Thank you for joining me on Ask Dr. Soram, and I’m wishing that your life is filled with enlightened medicine, conscious living, and compassion healing. I’ll see you back in two weeks.

In part three of my interview with Chef AJ we start out by talking about how important it is to stop eating oil and sugar. She learned this from attending lectures by Dr. Esselstyn, who you as you probably know is now President Bill Clinton’s physician.

Chef AJ recommends reading two books. One is called The End of Overeating and you can get Kindle version HERE.

The other book is called The Pleasure Trap. These books explain why these food substances are so addictive.

You can also get it on Kindle here.

She then talks about a noted cardiologist in Texas, Baxter Montgomery, M.D. who talks about genetic diseases. He has an interesting saying which is “it’s not the disease that runs in the family, it’s the recipes! That’s what is running in your family!”

His book is HERE.

His YouTube video is HERE.

Chef AJ feels that disease is 90% under our own control whether we get sick or not is determined by our behavior and our food habits.

She points out that we use food to solve our emotional stress, almost as a medicine. She notes that when people are stressed it lowers their dopamine and instead of doing the things that they should do to increase their dopamine such as exercise, volunteer work, or meditation, they rather go for the vending machine many times a day and in her opinion what they are looking for is dopamine.

We then go on to talk about epigenetics, which as you know is the future of medicine I believe. She reminds us as I’ve reminded you many times with food we can actually change our genetic expression.. This takes us out of being in the victim category. She reminds us that eating poorly is so commonplace that it’s now accepted

I then go on to ask her to talk about what is wrong with milk and cheese? She points out that what mankind ate for most of the course of the history of the planet was not Dairy. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. She points out that human beings are the only species that not only drink milk after maturity, but actually drink milk of another species.

She reminds us that the problem with milk is the casein protein in it, and she points out that Dr. Colin Campbell stumbled upon the recognition that it was a potent carcinogen.

She tells us that Dr. Campbell was originally a dairy farmer! He got hired by the dairy industry to find a way to get cows to produce more milk and in his research stumbled upon the fact that the protein in milk, called casein, was carcinogenic and he was able to turn cancer on and off by giving the animals casein. Read about this HERE

She also points out if you had your own cow in your own yard and you didn’t feed it GMO grain and if you wanted to milk it yourself maybe that would be okay but we must understand how animals are raised in dairy farms.

We then go on to talk about the ingredients in milk and you will be surprised what they are! I will not print them here!

She gives us a vivid description of what’s happening in the dairy industry. She also points out that about 50% of the world’s antibiotics go to farm animals. She strongly states that she believes that when people eat animal products like meat and dairy they are eating tissues that have had mass quantities of hormones and antibiotics pumped into it.

She discusses how the USDA inspects all milk to make sure there is not too much blood or pus in it.

She recommends that those who are addicted to cheese can try switching to a processed product called Daiya, and that in Los Angeles some pizza restaurants will make a vegan pizza with that cheese. It tastes like cheese and its melts like cheese and she recommends it as a great transition away from cheese. Get details on the podcast itself.

We then transition to talking about AJ’s book entitled Unprocessed. I specifically ask her about the section where she talks about the “Yabbuts”. She describes that a Yabbut (pronounced “Yeah but”), is an excuse. She got this expression because her clients would come to her place and say I need to stop my sugar – Yeah-But!

One of the main Yabbuts is that it’s too expensive to eat healthy. She points out that Dr. McDougall has calculated that you can eat this way for $3.33 a day. In addition she recommends the book by Alan Jeffrey called Vegan on For Dollars a Day.

We then go on to talk about the other Yabbut’s in her book, which I will let you listen to on the podcast directly or read in her book.

Chef AJ reminds us how easy it is to cook things at home when you use a pressure cooker. She specifically recommends an electric pressure cooker which is independent of the stove.

She reminds people often that just because you can’t do everything in the diet doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything. She reminds us to move in the direction of optimum health by adding more fruits and vegetables in your day. This is better than doing nothing.

We close by talking about her website which you can visit here and her book Unprocessed
or kindle

She also mentions the course that we talked about in part one of her interview on November 3 and November 4. More information about this can be found at HealthytasteofLA.com.

She also has a three-hour course where you will learn to cook 10 different meals that are healthy, satisfying and vegan. She points out that people even fly in from other parts of the country to just take this course. As you know I took her course and found it very helpful and very inspiring.

I look forward to bringing Chef AJ back on another show where we can perhaps talk about sugar.

If you like this podcast, please do rate me on iTunes. This way more people can learn of the podcast, and we can all work together to lift the health consciousness of our planet.

In addition please leave your comments below or you can send an email to me at questions@askDrSoram.com or by leaving a voicemail message at my Integrative Medicine Hotline 310-499-0275.

I look forward to hearing from you.

For the TRANSCRIPT of this Interview click PAGE 2 just below

She further points out in this epidemic of obesity, where it is predicted that 50% of Americans will be obese, why would we want to feed them a food that is 4000 calories per pound? This is the most calorically dense food on the planet, and it doesn’t fill you up! She therefore recommends eating flax seed not the oil, the corn not the corn oil!

Indeed, it Chef AJ points out that it takes 16 ears of corn to make 1 tablespoon of corn oil.
She points out that Dr Esselstyn’ website and you can find the videos talking about the adverse effects of olive oil here

She goes on to talk about the study that looked at the Mediterranean Diet and how that is not represented correctly to Americans. In that study they asked the people to stop eating powder and substitute olive oil. Therefore this is just a commentary that olive oil is in the that is powder for cholesterol. This was very surprising information to me because I’d never heard that about the Mediterranean Diet.

She talks about how it is important and much healthier to eat the wrong foods such as the olives, or the flax, or the corn.

We then talk about agave. She points out that UCLA did research that showed that fructose contributes to the growth of cancer. Agave is 90% fructose and high fructose corn syrup is only 55% fructose. She points out that the average American eats 150 pounds of sugar per year.
Chef AJ goes on to point out that anytime you process a food, whether it’s beets into sugar, olives into oil, brown rice into brown rice flour, you take a whole natural food that has water, fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants and micronutrients – you now take this natural food and you make it calorie rich and nutrient poor and you’re consuming only the non-nutritive portion of the product. She just doesn’t believe we are supposed to eat our food processed.

Our government recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. One soda can has 12 teaspoons of sugar in it. What does a Big Gulp have in it? This will help you understand why they are trying to eliminate the very large size soda is in New York at this time.

I point out to Chef AJ that my patients want something sweet and food and what she recommends is date paste which you can get from this website.

I then ask Chef AJ about Stevia another popular sweetener. She notes that this is what many health oriented chefs use. However she points out that Joel Fuhrman MD notes that Stevia is so sweet that it is not a natural sensation to the human taste and tends to make a person want to eat more and more sweets.

I then going on to talk with Chef AJ about what brought her to this way of life and this understanding of our diet. She was on to relate her personal health story which started with heavy rectal bleeding. After seeing her medical doctor and getting a diagnosis she went to Optimum Health Institute in San Diego California.
She talks about how that Institute then changed her life.

In the next and last part of the interview we will go on to talk about Milk and the dairy industry.
Chef AJ is the author of the book Unprocessed which you can get here

Thank you for joining me in my podcast. Remember you can send me questions at questions@askdrsoram.com, or you can call our hotline for questions at 310-499-0275.

Please leave your comments about this interview below and if you are enjoying my podcasts please give me a five-star rating on iTunes so more people can learn of my podcast.

She was the executive vegan pastry chef at Sante Restaurant and has been a chef and culinary instructor in Los Angeles for the past 12 years.

You can get her book at Amazon here

or the kindle version here

She is the creator and co-producer of the annual Healthy Taste of LA event held every year in Redondo Beach, California. This year it is being held on November 3.

I first met Chef AJ over a year ago at an event for Colin Campbell that was held at the USC school of medicine. She was the main chef there and the food was absolutely delicious. In fact many non-vegans said it was the best food they’ve ever had!

Then recently, AJ invited me to a vegan whole food plant based cooking class which she held at her house. I was totally inspired by this class and how easy it could be to cook in a whole food unprocessed plant based fashion that I went on to take some private training with her so I could make my own food! (My wife was delighted!)

Chef AJ’s primary focus is to encourage us all to eat UNPROCESSED food. Ideally this will be whole food plant based but even if it’s not she encourages us all to eat only or mostly unprocessed.

In this, Part One of our interview Chef AJ talks about the Healthy Taste Of LA event which will be held in Los Angeles in November. You can find a link to the event here.

Also at that event Dr.Caldwell Esselstyn will speak about why we all should be eating a whole food unprocessed plant based diet. Dr. Essestyn wrote the book entitled Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition – based Cure.

His book is available here

or on Kindle here

His most famous patient is President  Bill Clinton who came to him about his own heart disease when drugs and surgery were not enough. You can watch President Clinton‘s interview about his diet program at this link.

So in this the first part of my interview with Chef AJ, after we talk about the Healthy Taste of LA event , we go on to talk about “Unprocessed” and I ask AJ what is Unprocessed?

She references Jack Lalane who said “If God made it, eat it. If Man made it, don’t eat it!” She also notes Margaret Mead said  “It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet” and I would agree with that as a doctor that works with sick patients and talks to them about diet!

Chef AJ talks about making your own food at home.

Most Americans eat 70% of their calories from processed foods.

She talks about what the problems are with processed foods. They cause inflammation which my readers know is the underlying cause of many diseases.

She says that even in Whole Foods, be careful because 90% of what is there, is processed food.

The End of Overeating by Dr David Kessler the former Surgeon General reviews the processed food industry and the problems resulting from it.

You can get it on kindle here.

Processed food is so addictive because it contains sugar, fat, and salt . In combination these 3 foods are highly addictive.

Now we have unprecedented rates of diabetes in kids. But our genes do not change that fast, so it has to be diet she points out!

I then direct our talk to “what is wrong with sugar”. Simple sugars are micronutrient poor foods and that leads to the problems from it.

I then go on to ask Chef AJ to talk about the problems with oil. And we will be discussing that in the next podcast.

Thank you for joining me in my podcast. Remember you can send me questions at question@askdrsoram.com,  or you can call our hotline for questions at 310-499-0275.

Please do leave your comments below and if you like my podcasts please do rate me on iTunes!